Grey's Tribute

Three Months and Thirteen Days

Hearing a faint whimpering, like a child crying. Still groggy with sleep, I realize the sounds are coming from me. I open my eyes only to see the northerner watching me. I glance around like a cornered rabbit, wide-eyed and scared.

"It's okay; you just had a bad dream." Soft like the finest of silks, his voice wraps around me, caressing the outside of my body. This is how it feels to hear your mate's soothing voice: your body instinctively relaxes to the sound.

"I'm not the enemy, Meela." He turns his broad back to me, his fingers gathering the fabric of the bedding in his hands, crushing it against his flesh.

"You have a funny way of showing friendship...Alpha." Keeping myself calm, feeling the rage inside starting to simmer, just on the edge of a boil.

"Meela...Please, just call me Grey." He sighs in frustration.

Sitting up in bed, pulling the covers to my chest. "I think you've earned that title, wouldn't you agree...Alpha?" I tilt my head to him, raising an eyebrow up in question.

"We do things differently than what you're used to here. We have traditions we follow which only strengthen us as a pack. I never realized what determination you had in you. Never has anyone lasted as long as you did. It only shows the pack and me what a strong and fierce leader you'll be."

As he turns his body to face me fully, I'm hit with just how utterly masculine he is. I take his features in, the way his hair slightly curls at the bottom being just a little too long, the rigid jawline, the two days' worth of stubble. It's his mouth that my eyes land on, and I watch him drawing his bottom lip in slightly then pushing it out wet. I clear my throat before speaking, shaking my head.

"Well, I don't feel that way at the moment." I look him in the eyes.

I see his gaze traveling all over my face, taking me in.

He blows out a small breath. "One day I hope for your forgiveness."

"One day, maybe. But not today." I pull the covers tighter against me.

"I've come to talk to you about the branding ceremony." He studies me for my reaction, but I put a mask on my face...impassive.

He won't be able to fully feel my emotions or thoughts until we're fully mated and marked, for that I'm thankful. He will, however, be able to taste and sense strong emotions that come off my body if I'm not careful to control my reactions.

"I was thinking next week. I want you to recover before going through that."

I don't argue. It's going to happen anyway. All females take their male's pack mark.

I nod my head in agreement. "When will the Claiming Ceremony be?"

Repulsion knots my stomach, twisting it inside out. He looks at me knowingly. I don't bother to mask how I feel about that.

"Three months and thirteen days, as by the time you spent collared." His mouth forms a firm line, watching his hands gather up the bed sheets and squeezing them tightly.

"I'm not going to do the Ceremony; I refuse to be a part of that." This time I stare at him in the eyes defiantly.

"You will be mated at the Claiming Ceremony as custom states."

"I will not."

His eyes bore into mine aggressively. "Be swayed any differently; you will be taken in front of the pack, marked and mated. With or without your consent."

"Please don't do this. I could never forgive you for that." I hold myself tightly, trying to stop the shaking taking over my body with the thought of being raped in front of the entire pack.

"My pack expects certain things from their Alpha, and this is one of them. I will not disappoint my pack."

I blurt out, "Pack before family is that what you're telling me? I'm your mate, and you would put the pack before me and my wishes?"

He gives me a stern look; eyebrows crunched together, jaw set tight, body rigid. "Yes, every time."

My chest constricts, a tightness has wrapped around it, crushing it in, making it hard to breathe. Realization hits me. I'll always be second to the pack...Never first.

"You know why I have to wait for the ceremony?"

I nod and answer, "It teaches Alpha patience, it teaches Alpha self-control, it teaches Alpha to put the pack's needs before his own."

"That's right. Because there's nothing, I want more than to lay you down and claim you, mark your neck as mine, and sink myself deep inside you."

Nervous flutters stir inside my stomach as he talks about claiming me. My skin feels warm, and a deep red uncontrollable flush hits my cheeks. I don't look at him anymore.

"My pack expects a claiming ceremony. The Old Ways demand this." His voice takes on a serious note. "And I'm going to give them that."

"It won't happen." I wrap my arms across my chest, squeezing myself tight, afraid I'll come apart any minute.

"That will never happen," I speak it more to myself than him.

"It will happen." His finger rests under my chin, lifting my face to his so we're eye to eye.

How could fate be so cruel? How could it twist and turn something so special and sacred into something so vile and horrendous?

"It's time for lunch. Let's go eat and then Sophie can show you around the grounds since you prefer her company to mine."

I give a shrug and smile. "I'll have to agree with you on that one."

Getting off the bed, he extends his hand to help me off. I look at it: strong fingers, rough hand, firm forearms extending into tight biceps. "I'd rather not touch you. At the moment, I'm rather offended by you."

I brush past him with a flip of my hair, ignoring his outstretched hand, letting the scent of my distaste for him trials behind me as I leave the room.